good but cheap airbrush kit?

December 3, 2007 6:09 AM

Hive mind: recommend me a readily available (mail-order's okay) sub-$150 airbrush kit for a beginner that will neither overwhelm nor be outgrown! (recipient: 21-year-old interested in painting R/C helicopter canopies) Bonus points if it includes paints.
posted by DoctorFedora to shopping (3 comments total)

Testor paints make an air-can driven plastic airbrush that might be pretty good to start with. It comes with a few paints, should be readily available in your local hobby store or Walmart (that's where I got mine), and is a decent introduction to the idea of painting with an airbrush. It will, however, be pretty rapidly outgrown if the recipient in question has any aptitude at all, but is a fairly cheep device to start out with, so it's not like you'll have to break the bank if he/she wants to get more into it.

If you go this route, buy extra aircans. They run out fast.
posted by Pecinpah at 6:52 AM on December 3, 2007

Back when I was building lots of models, I used an Aztek double action airbrush from Testors. I was definitely a beginner when it came to airbrushing, and the Aztek provided a nice balance between being a good quality airbrush with enough flexibility to change out nozzles and such to achieve very good results. That has been probably five years ago now, but I gather they are still targeting that market. My only suggestion is to be sure you go with a double action airbrush and not a single action - that makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Lokheed at 8:14 AM on December 3, 2007

Can't remember what the brush I have is (been in the hobby bin too long!). One tip I definitely recommend though is getting a brush that can hook up to a small compressor. The cost of air cans will kill you pretty fast.
posted by trinity8-director at 12:21 PM on December 3, 2007